Attachment of rubber heels to shoes



A ril 28, 1936.

G. QGORMAN ATTACHMENT OF RUBBER HEELS TO SHOES Filed Dec. 18, 1953 Patented Apr. 2 8, 1936 PATENT OFFIQE' ATTACHMENT OF RUBBER HEELS TO SHOES Gaynor OGorman, Boston, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Paterson, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application December 18,1933, Serial No. 702,844

1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in the attachment of rubber heels to shoes and. is illustrated herein with respect to the attachment of rubber heels.

There are now on the market rubber heels of a type in which a wire fabric reinforcing member is located close to or at the attaching face of the heel. These heels lack the washers'of the most common type of rubber heels. As these wire fabric reinforced heels have been attached heretofore, nails have been driven through the rubber of the heels and through the wire fabric, the heads of the nails engaging the wire fabric which thus serves as a nail anchoring element. The fabric is, however, so thin, being made from wire having a diameter of about .02 to .025 of an inch,

that the driving of the nails to the right depth is an extremelycritical operation. If the nails are not driven quite far enough, their heads do not engage the wire fabric so that the heels work on the nails and soon become loose. If, in an attempt to avoid this, the nails are driven even slightly. too far, the heads pass through the wire fabric and the heels are not held at all.

It is an object of my invention to attach rubber heels of this type, or other sole members having a similar construction, in such a manner that the exact distance to which the fastenings are driven is much less critical so that the diificulties outlined above will be avoided. This I accomplish, as illustrated herein, by utilizing fibre fastenings of the character disclosed in Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,729,169, granted September 24, 1929, on an application filed in the name of Fred N. LaChapelle. Such fastenings I prefer to head at both ends, the driver-engaging ends of the fastenings being positioned, in the finished shoe, intermediate between the attaching surface and the tread face of the heel. I have found 40 that a fastening inserting machine of the type, for example, disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 1,849,253, granted March 15, 1932, on another application filed in the name of said La- Chapelle, is well adapted for use in attaching rubber heels of this type. The awl of such a ma- 'chine will find its way through the mesh of the wire fabric or, if it strikes the wire of the fabric, will deflect the wire or sever it and bend the severed ends sufiiciently to permit the insertion of the peg. Proper adjustment of the length of the fastenings and of the location of the lower limit of the driver stroke will result in the heading of the lower ends of the fastenings against the heel plate of the last on which the shoe is mounted and of the upper ends of the fastenings in the rubber of the heel a substantial distance above the wire fabric. Such fastenings I have found hold heels of this type securely in place. Furthermore, the elimination of the clenched ends of metallic rubber heel attaching nails from the footengaging surface of the insole is highly conducive to the comfort of the wearer.

If desired, the fastenings may be of such a length and so driven that their driver-engaging ends are left substantially flush with the tread face of the heel. Such fastenings add an antiskid quality to the heels and under some circumstances may be preferred for that reason.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention Will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing and pointed out in the claim. r

In the drawing,

Fig. l is a perspective view,*partly. in section, illustrating a rubber heel attached to a shoe in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation illustrating the attachment of the heel by a fibre peg inserting machine; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the rear portion of a shoe having a rubber heel attached in accordance with my invention, with the ends of the fibre fastenings fiush with the tread face of the heel.

The shoe E0 of the drawing is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 as mounted on a last l2. As shown in Fig. 1, it has an upper l4 secured at its heel seat portion in lasted relation to an insole It by fastenings 18, an outsole 20, a heel base 22 consisting of a lift 23 and a rand 24, and a rubber heel member 26. It will be understood of course that the shoe I!) may be made by any usual or suitable method. The heel base, moreover, need not be made from a lift and a rand. Obviously, it may be constructed, if desired, in any other suitable way, or it may be omitted altogether. While the term rubber is used for convenience in this specification and in the accompanying claim to designate the material of which the heel member 26 is composed, it should be understood that it is used in the sense which is customary in the rubber heel art, that is, as designating any of the various resilient materials or compounds suit-' able for use in the manufacture of cushion heels.

The illustrated rubber heel member 26 is, strictly speaking, a half heel. consists of a body of rubber compound reinforced at its attaching face with a woven fabric 28 composed of wire of, for example, .02 to .025 of an inch in diameter, and having a mesh of As shown in Fig. 1, it.

about fifteen to the inch. It should be understood, however, that these figures are by no means critical.

The shoe Hi, the base 22 and the rubber heel member 26 are assembled in the desired relation to each other, fastening-receiving holes 30' are made through the rubber heel member 26, the base 22, the outsole 20 and the insole 16, by, for

example, the awl 32 of a fastening inserting machine, as illustratedin Fig. 2,and fibre pegs 34 formed preferably of sized and twisted paper,

' as illustrated in the LaChapelle Patent No.

1,729,169, are driven into the holes. For this purpose the machine of Fig. 2 is provided with a driver 36 which inserts fastenings severed from a strip of fibre fastening material as disclosed in said LaChapelle Patents Nos. 1,729,169 and 1,849,253. Conveniently and as illustrated in V, Fig. 2, the last I2 is carried by a work support 38,

as is usual in fasteninginserting machines of the 1 type referred to, by which the shoe is pressed against an abutment or'presser plate '40 when the fastenings are being driven.

As illustrated inFig. 1, the fibre pegs 34 are headed at both ends, the lower ends of the pegs being flush with the foot-engaging surface of the ins0le, as indicated at 42, while the upper ends of the pegs, as shown at 44, are embedded in the rubber of the heel member 26. In thisco'nnection it should be noted that the rubber of the heel memberwill close up, as indicated at,

.after the pegs have been driven, effectively closing, the holes and'preventing the entrance of dirt or gravel. The heading of the pegs, as just described, can b'e'accomplishedreadily by adjusting 'the peg measuring mechanism of the fastening inserting machine so that the pegs are out a few hundredths of an inch longer than the'distance between thelowermost point of the driver stroke and the heel plate of the last on which the shoe to be operated'upon is mounted. Preferably, and

as illustrated in Fig. 1, the fastenings 34 are inserted in a single row spaced a considerable distance from the outer edge of the rubber heel member 26 thereby insuring that they pass through the wire fabric 28, which is of less area than the rubber heel member;

In passing through the wire fabric 28, the awl 32 of the fastening inserting machine may go' through one of the openings between the wires, or it may hit and sever a wire, as illustrated at duce the liability of the wearer's slipping when stepping, for example, on a wet surface. I If the pegs are to be left exposed in this fashion, it is desirable that they be sized with a water-resistin'g glue.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent of the'United'States is: r 7

10 48, in which case the fibre peg will be clutched -A shoe having "a rubber heel member provided :at its attaching face with a wire fabric reinforcement, the rubber heel member being secured "to a heel base by a single row of fibre fastenings I I 'embeddedin'the rubber of the heel member and i V .in the heel base and set in a considerable distance from the outeredge of the rubber heel mem- 7 her, said fibref'as'tenings indiscriminately passing through the mesh of the fabric or being gripped by severed endl portions of the wire of the fabric.

CTAYNOR OGORMAN. 

